Salinas takes on its gangs

Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

Jose Cruz and Maria Alcantar's son, Azahel Cruz, 6, was killed in a drive-by shooting in March. The killing was the 31st in the last 15 months in Salinas, population 145,000, a city the size of Pasadena with eight times as many violent deaths, every one of them gang-related. See full story

Jose Cruz and Maria Alcantar's son, Azahel Cruz, 6, was killed in a drive-by shooting in March. The killing was the 31st in the last 15 months in Salinas, population 145,000, a city the size of Pasadena with eight times as many violent deaths, every one of them gang-related. See full story (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Jose Cruz and Maria Alcantar's son, Azahel Cruz, 6, was killed in a drive-by shooting in March. The killing was the 31st in the last 15 months in Salinas, population 145,000, a city the size of Pasadena with eight times as many violent deaths, every one of them gang-related. See full story